Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2024 i Saga Magazine

Hello everyone and welcome to June, which marks my six-month anniversary at the helm of Saga. They say time flies when you are having fun, and it has certainly been a great pleasure to get to know more about our customers, and to meet some of you as well. I am pleased to report that we have made a solid start to the year and by the time you are reading this we will have paid down our £150 million bond. This is a big step forward and another indicator of the progress we are making as a business. Nonetheless, there’s a lot more to do and I’m excited about the future we are building for Saga. As usual, there’s a lot of hard work going on in the background…

Our June picks…

The frightening truth is that being scammed has now become one of our most universal experiences, with incidents on the rise and a recent report from the Social Market Foundation showing that one in five people globally have been victims of fraud, with 36% of them over 55. In the UK last year, scams represented more than 40% of all crime – the most common type – with 3.5 million adults losing money to scams and fraud and their average losses coming out at over £4,000. That puts the money leaving our economy to criminals in the region of £17 billion. But, shockingly, in the UK, we only convict one in every 1,000 fraud cases. It’s an appalling situation but being au fait with the scams of the day will…

* Wollerton Old Hall Garden, Shropshire – old and new roses in a garden of rooms; wollertonoldhallgarden.com * Wynyard Hall, Teeside – over 3,000 rose plants; wynyardhall.co.uk * Rosemoor, Devon (RHS) – two stunning rose gardens; rhs.org.uk/gardens/rosemoor * Mottisfont, Hampshire (NT) – worldrenowned collection; nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/hampshire/mottisfont * David Austin Rose Gardens, Shropshire -over 700 varieties; davidaustinroses.co.uk * Bodnant Garden, Conwy (NT) – roses around an Italianate terrace; nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/wales/bodnant-garden * Sissinghurst, Kent (NT) – Vita Sackville-West’s famous collection; nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/kent/sissinghurst-castle-garden * Dorset Walled Garden, near Dorchester – contemporary, abundant borders; dorsetwalledgarden.co.uk * Malleny Garden, Edinburgh (NTS) – national collection of heritage shrub roses; nts.org.uk/visit/places/malleny-garden * Peter Beales Gardens, Norfolk – old roses festival 22-23 June; classicroses.co.uk…

The time has come to hand things down. Actually, this should have happened many years ago because ever since my mother died in 2005 I have had various pieces of furniture in storage or loitering in a friend’s barn. I kept telling myself that it might come in handy, but it never has done. Some of the furniture has sentimental connotations, reminders of childhood, carefree days. And, frankly, some of it might fetch a bob or two at auction. There are chests of drawers, a couple of wardrobes, bookcases, sideboards — even a dining room table, which, if you put in the two spare leaves, can seat 12 without feeling you’re wedged like commuters at rush hour. I don’t want to sell any of it. Rather, I would like my…

When Edith Ranger goes shopping for clothes, it’s a trial not a treat. For 15 years she has had to wear a thick compression sleeve on her swollen right arm – right down to her fingertips – so buying anything with sleeves means having to go up two sizes. She can’t manage buttons or elasticated cuffs, nor anything with catches, so wearing necklaces and bracelets is out. She sold her gold jewellery long ago and spent the money on a Caribbean holiday with husband Andy. ‘My right arm is 30% bigger than my left,’ explains Edith, 62. ‘As the swelling increases during the day it gets heavier, so I feel lopsided. It’s very painful if someone bumps into me, so it can be tricky in crowded places. But when I…

Try it 1 Wrist mobilisation Clasp hands together, wrists touching and rotate in a figure of eight, several times. Keep the wrists together. Now rotate in the other direction. 2 Travelling Beast On all fours, with knees lifted off the ground if you can, creep forwards lifting your right hand and left foot and replacing them simultaneously on the ground. Repeat with left hand and right foot. Repeat four times then do the same thing backwards. 3 Crab Reach Sit upright on the floor, knees bent, hands behind you with weight evenly distributed between hands and feet. Lifting one arm from the floor, push your hips up to extend them and roll your shoulders back to open up the front of your body. Keep your hips level and pointing straight…

FINANCE Take note The first banknotes featuring a portrait of King Charles III will go into circulation from 5 June. But you may not see one for some time as they will only be issued as and when notes with the familiar image of his mother need replacing. I saw some of the new notes (top right) in the Bank of England Museum and it is very strange to see English notes without Elizabeth II on them. It almost feels as if you are in a different country. Which, of course, we are – the future! Find more details at bankofengland.co.uk – search ‘Charles III banknotes’. Inheritance facts The government is set to take a record £7.5 billion in Inheritance Tax (IHT) in 2023/24. But that is only slightly higher…

As a tide of pro-Palestinian protests spread across US university campuses, I found myself 8,000 miles away in Johannesburg, which seemed somehow apt. Several people I met there suggested that history in America was repeating itself. They remembered the Eighties, when antiapartheid demos by students forced businesses to reassess their interests in South Africa and piled pressure on then President Ronald Reagan to take a tougher stance towards the regime. In America, many think another historical comparison is more fitting. In 1968, the country was convulsed by student protests against the war in Vietnam. In the White House, Democrat President Lyndon Johnson chose not to seek re-election, sparking a heated primary contest within his own party. That summer, the party’s convention in Chicago saw battles between police and protesters outside…

PODCAST The Today Podcast You might wonder if the Today programme needs its own podcast. Haven’t news junkies had enough after a three-hour show each weekday on Radio 4? In fact, the show’s podcast has managed to carve out its own unique niche. On each episode, Today hosts Nick Robinson and Amol Rajan pluck the most important story from the swirling amorphous mass of the week’s news. Then they take a deep dive into the topic with forensic analysis and interviews with experts. Take one week of the Gazan conflict. While the Today programme gave us blow-by-blow accounts – a missile that hit Iranian generals, humanitarian aid workers killed, arms embargo discussions – its podcast took all these stories and asked what they meant for the war’s bigger picture. Former…

Each number in the grid represents a different letter. We’ve given you two letters to start you off, which show that 18=O and 25=L. Write these letters wherever their corresponding numbers appear in the grid and then begin to work out the identity of the other letters. All 26 letters of the alphabet will appear in the finished puzzle. SET SQUARE Place each of the digits 1-9 in the grid to make the sums work. We’ve started you with two numbers. Note that the mathematical rule of BIDMAS/BODMAS does not apply to Set Square puzzles. ADD A LETTER Rearrange the letters and add one to these words to make five-letter words that fit the clues. The added letters will spell a word. WORD WHEEL See how many words of four…

On the face of it, the two words ‘collective noun’ are unlikely to get anyone’s pulse racing. Like many terms in my job, their cold exterior can be a little off-putting. Dig a little deeper, though, and the magic begins. I’ve discovered there are few areas of language that get people going quite as much as whether the correct group name for politicians is a posse or an odium, or whether penguins really do come in waddles. And that’s just for starters. As a lexicographer, I’m often asked for the correct collective noun for various things. By ‘correct’ the questioner means the one that is sanctioned by the dictionary and is therefore ‘official’. In truth, English has no linguistic government that tells us what is right and wrong. Its evolution…

EDITOR’S LETTER Hello everyone. I do hope you are enjoying the start of summer – it has certainly been a long time coming this year. The upside of all that rain means my garden is now an explosion of colour and my hydrangeas are bustin’ out all over, as the song goes. My roses were disappointing last year, so I was particularly interested in our gardening editor Lucy Hall’s advice on how to grow the perfect blooms (p47). This month I’m delighted to introduce our cover star and brilliant new agony columnist Anne (no relation) Robinson. I have been a big fan of Annie, as she likes to be known, for decades. We used to watch her as a family on Points of View and, as a very junior feature writer…

VIEWPOINT If only the governments of England and Northern Ireland would have the common sense to follow where Scotland and Wales have led and make it illegal to smack a child. Where smacking remains permissible for parents the rules are appallingly unclear. What does it actually mean to say ‘reasonable punishment’ is OK? What is reasonable punishment? Is it a whack on the bottom with a ruler? A slap across the face? A heavy hand lashing out around the head? Different parents will have different views about how to differentiate between child abuse and reasonable punishment. I’m with the doctors who have demanded that all physical punishment be banned. Clear, unequivocal – a law. In 2024, we’ve reached a time of sensitive humanity where everyone has rights. Well, everyone apart…

RELATIONSHIPS Having slept separately from her husband for 14 years, Julia Champion thought it would be a romantic gesture to book a double room in a boutique hotel – with a beautiful roll top bath at the foot of the ornate bed – to celebrate her husband’s 50th birthday However, at dawn, demented from lack of sleep, she walked out of their hotel and checked in, alone, to a bed and breakfast next door feeling very naive for having imagined she could survive even one night beside her beloved. ‘The moment Matt’s head hit the pillow he started snoring,’ recalls Julia, 55, who runs a management and PR company for television presenters. ‘I kept shaking him, hoping he’d stop. When that failed, I took a pillow and blanket to the…

Create… theatre in a pot Containers create a focal point whatever the size of your plot, so go big on pots for impact until autumn. The best are like gardens in miniature, with height, fullness and texture. For success every time, follow ‘queen of colour’ Sarah Raven’s proven recipe that makes every pot a stage set. The thriller is the star of the show – a pelargonium or dahlia, say – placed centrally. Fillers, such as salvia or snapdragon, are the supporting act, and froth with abundance. The spiller softens pot edges – try calibrachoa, the petunia’s daintier cousin. Read more from Sarah in A Year Full of Pots (Bloomsbury, £27). Enjoy… the taste of summer Nothing beats the flavour of a homegrown tomato, and planting them outdoors in the…

The biggest thing to happen to Pinot Grigio in the early 21st century was the TOGs. Remember them? Half of you are nodding at the memory. The other half think this is a reference to duvets. ‘Terry’s Old Geezers and Gals’ were the devotees of Wake up to Wogan on BBC Radio 2. And they loved Pinot Grigio. They would ring in with silly names like ‘Edina Clouds’, ‘Clodagh Rubbish’, and ‘Chuffer Dandridge’ and tell stories – usually lubricated by Pinot Grigio – and soon became a national favourite. They were wine’s answer to Sir Terry (right) himself, really. We didn’t just fall for Pinot Grigio. The French grape Pinot is like the alien in a horror movie and mutates at the drop of a hat. So, we have pinkish-grey…

Richard Dace, 64, has hereditary lymphoedema in his lower legs. He has passed it on to his daughter but not his son. ‘My father had the condition in the 1940s and I inherited it in my twenties. I have regular contact with a specialist practitioner at St George’s Hospital in London to ensure that swelling is controlled with well-fitting compression stockings. I have also had advice on weight management and self-massage techniques that can be done at home. ‘I have travelled a lot without medical issues, but because I wear compression stockings all day, travelling in hot, humid climates is very uncomfortable, so a jungle trip is off my bucket list! ‘I’m a keen walker but I have to be very careful not to get blisters or cuts as that…

going places CRUISING / LETTER FROM AMERICA TRAVEL My father-in-law loved to travel – and he loved the sun. In the lead-up to Malawi’s Independence Day in 1964, Noel was in the Colonial Service stationed in the town of Blantyre (where my wife Joanna was born) and developed a deep love of Africa and its people. Some years later, having joined the BBC in a non-journalism role, he was mainly office-bound, commuting into London from Tunbridge Wells, and by the time he’d retired, his main occupation was as a carer for his wife. His wings were clipped. So that was when I suggested he should accompany Joanna and me on a cruise – a first for all three of us. He was 82; I was apprehensive. But it didn’t take…

Sad news Reading Jeremy Paxman for the last time brought tears to my eyes. His is (was) the first page I turned to. I love his dry wit and observations on life. I feel sad that he has this condition but admire his stoic stance about it. Of course, one would never expect anything less from him. I wish him well, as he is clearly determined to make the best of the situation. Remember what Churchill said, Jeremy: ‘Keep buggering on’. Jo Cunningham Wargrave, Berkshire Raising awareness I was sad to learn that Jeremy Paxman no longer feels able to contribute his column. I’d like to thank him and his fellow Movers and Shakers for their efforts to draw attention to Parkinson’s. My father had early-onset Parkinson’s; I never saw…

1 A part from the money and the title, what is presented to the winner of the US Masters golf tournament each year? 2 Which TV soap started in 1985 with an episode featuring Des’s Bachelor Party? 3 What is called Elephant, Human Being, Ant in Indonesia; Hammer, Nail, Wrapping in Vietnam; Snake, Frog, Slug in Japan; and, also in Japan, Warrior, Tiger, Warrior’s Mother? 4 What was originally a London stock market term for someone who defaulted on a debt but these days is more often used to describe a discredited politician in the final days of office? 5 Who discovered sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, boron and barium, as well as inventing a lamp? 6 Lois Maxwell from 1962 to 1985; Caroline Bliss until 1989; Samantha Bond until 2002;…

MARK PALMER Bon Voyages, p89 Mark Palmer is a Fleet St veteran and currently travel and property editor at the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday. When he was 18, girls used to scream in excitement because he was a dead ringer for David Cassidy. PATRICIA CORNWELL World According To…, p129 The American crime writer, who turns 68 this month, has sold more than 100 million copies of her novels featuring forensic pathologist Kay Scarpetta since her debut in 1990. PAUL BLOW Spot the scammers, p36 A Dorset-based illustrator, his bold style mixes contemporary themes with humour and the absurd. His clients include The Guardian, The New York Times, Penguin Books and New Scientist. JAMES HOLLAND D-Day remembered, p99 Alongside his role co-hosting the popular podcast We Have Ways of Making…

What’s been the best day of your life so far? It’s difficult to name just one, although the day I picked up my DBE from Princess Anne at Windsor Castle is up there. It still catches me off guard when people call me Dame Denise. I think, ‘Hang on, is that me? I’m Denise from the West Midlands’. In 2012 I was invited to meet the Obamas at the White House – that was pretty amazing too. And, of course, there was the moment I crossed the line and won gold for the heptathlon at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. My goodness, that was special. It was elation, it was relief, it was pride. I was shaking like a leaf. I thought I would cry, but I couldn’t. I felt…

home & style GARDENS / RECIPES / WINE / FASHION / BEAUTY GARDENS When the Victorian archaeologist Sir William Flinders Petrie ventured deep into the Egyptian burial chambers of Hawara, he was astonished to find an 1,800-year-old funeral wreath of roses – dried and perfectly preserved under the dust and sand. Originating in what is now Ethiopia, the roses were identified as the holy rose, Rosa sancta, and sent to the Herbarium at Kew Gardens for preservation, where they remain to this day. While these are said to be the oldest form of roses in existence, fossils of the Oligocene era dating back over 30 million years suggest that roses were on Earth long before mankind appeared. But they’ve had symbolic meaning in human society for millennia, woven into religious,…

RECIPES If you struggled with the five-a-day fruit and veg rule, there’s good news and bad news. First the good news: experts are no longer quite so convinced. The bad news? The new target is 30 plants a week – and the plants all have to be different. Fortunately, celebrity chef and food campaigner Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has made this the subject of his latest book, How to Eat 30 Plants a Week. By pulling out just two or three of his recipes, within a week you’ll hit the target. He almost makes it look easy, which is his intention. ‘You’d think it was going to be harder than five-a-day, but weirdly, I don’t think it is,’ he says. ‘It’s partly because this takes the pressure off obsessing over fresh fruit…

I always think you can tell a great deal about someone based on their preference for showers or baths. Shower types strike me as people who’d have things like, ‘Highly motivated! Ambitious! Results driven!’ on their CVs. Bath people haven’t quite got round to finishing their CVs yet. They’re still ruminating on their thoughts while languishing in a restorative tub of bubbles. Personally, I’m passionately team bath. Baths are the kindly therapists of the cleansing ritual world gently whispering, ‘And tell me, how does that make you feel?’ Showers are more akin to drill sergeants on SAS: Are You Tough Enough? yelling, ‘Pain is just weakness leaving the body – man up, dirtbag!’ Apparently, us bathers are in the minority – almost 60% of Brits prefer leaping into the shower. So,…

Taking a cheap prebiotic supplement every day for 12 weeks not only improved the gut health of volunteers over 65, it also improved their performance in memory and thinking tests, according to a study at King’s College London. The study was carried out on twins, where one got the prebiotic and the other a placebo pill but they didn’t know which. Prebiotics are vegetable fibres that feed healthy gut bacteria and are also present in Jerusalem artichokes, chicory, onions, leeks and garlic. Rachel Carlyle…

HEALTH Do you know what your sixth sense is? No, me neither. But it’s called proprioception. Described as the innate ability to detect the whereabouts of our bodies at any point in time, it’s vital to help maintain balance and co-ordination that decline with age. Sounds challenging – especially for someone who, as a child, couldn’t even do a handstand let alone a cartwheel – but I’m about to put mine to the test with a new exercise class that’s making waves in the fitness world. Animal Flow, so called because it uses natural body movements with names like the Beast, the Crab and the Scorpion, draws on one of the biggest current trends in fitness, quadrupedal (on all fours) movement training (QMT). Experts are hailing this as an uber-effective…

TURNING 50 Alanis Morissette singer Bear Grylls survivalist Kelly Jones singer (The Stereophonics), right Steve-O entertainer TURNING 60 Boris Johnson journalist and ex-Prime Minister, below left Courteney Cox actor, below right Dan Brown novelist David Morrissey actor James Purefoy actor, above right Kathy Burke actor and director Stedman Pearson singer (Five Star) TURNING 70 Jim Belushi actor Kathleen Turner actor, above right TURNING 80 Gary Busey actor Nigel Rees writer and broadcaster Sir Ray Davies singer (The Kinks) Robert Powell actor, above right TURNING 90 Dame Eileen Atkins actor, below centre Millicent Martin singer Pat Boone singer Wendy Craig actor, above right…

our pick PIECE OF MY HEART Penelope Tree Ah, the glamorous world of high fashion! Drug and alcohol abuse, sexual exploitation, endless pressure to be thin… From a posh Oxfordshire home, via boarding school, to world travel, Vogue photo shoots and love with mercurial photographer Ramsey, Ari seems to have it all. But Tree’s flawed heroine is an insecure soul in a relationship so emotionally abusive, with a lover so faithless, you want to scream, ‘Get out now!’ They say if you can remember the Sixties you weren’t really there, but former supermodel and David Bailey’s muse Tree was certainly there, on the scene, and she remembers. Join her on a whirlwind trip back in time to Swinging London, reliving those delirious days before the dream turned sour. INVASION Frank Gardner…

More puzzles! There are loads more puzzles on the Saga Magazine app. Download from your app store today! £250 prize PRIZE CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 The world’s first towing steamboat, launched in 1803 (9,6) 9 Stringed instrument similar to a lute (8) 10 City with O’Connell Street as its main thoroughfare (6) 11 Popular garden plant with clustered blossoms (5) 12 Actress who played Bella in the 1999 film Notting Hill (4,5) 14 South Africa’s currency unit (4) 16 Desert region with the Gulf of Aqaba at its southern end (5) 17 Second-most populous city of Algeria (4) 18 Brand-name tablet computer introduced in 2010 (4) 20 Surrey town two miles north-east of Epsom (5) 22 Musical passage that brings a movement to an end (4) 23 Hertfordshire rock festival held periodically since 1974 (9) 24 Scandinavian composer of the 1865 Piano Sonata…

I hate getting older but, hey, it happens. And when your job is sitting on your backside, looking at a computer, it’s hard to stay in shape. I play tennis, lift weights, go on long walks with my partner, Staci [Gruber]. We’ve been married for almost 20 years. We both enjoy getting away out into the wild country. I did have problems with my mood in the past and being outside has always helped. This is going to sound like a cliché, but it really is the simplest things in life – like taking a walk on the beach near our home in Massachusetts – that mean the most. That’s not to say I don’t enjoy going crazy every once in a while. I’ve learned to fly helicopters, I ride…